Knopflerfish 5.1 released

The Knopflerfish team is pleased to announce the release of Knopflerfish 5.1 now available for download from the Knopflerfish web site.

Knopflerfish version 5.1 is the first minor release of Knopflerfish  implemented according to the OSGi Release 5 specification and includes several minor enhancements as well as all bug fixes made since KF 5.0 was released. The 5.1 release also includes fixed related to Java 8 and Knopflerfish 5.1 passes all tests on Java 7 and 8, as well as older Java versions, and embedded Java profiles.

The new key features in Knopflerfish OSGi 5.1 are:

• Support for starting from a single jar that includes all jars, xargs and property files needed to start an entire system
• Knopflerfish framework can now be executed in read only mode, i.e. no files are written by the framework. This assumes bundles are installed as reference file URLs
• UserAdmin is completely self-contained, i.e. no dependencies on KF specific bundles
• CM's persistent storage has been made more robust and fault resilient
• HTTP Server now handles chunked transfer encoding correctly
• Minor fixes in SCR
• Repository Commands supports -r flag which recursively finds and installs dependencies
• Plus many more minor fixes and enhancements.

The Release Notes includes the complete list of features and fixes. 

Enjoy!

Knopflerfish 5 is released - OSGi R5 for embedded and desktop use

We are happy to announce the availability if Knopflerfish 5, the new major release of Knopflerfish, designed to be implemented according to the OSGi R5 specifications. KF5 fully support the OSGi R5 Core as well as the parts relevant for embedded and desktop use of OSGi R5 Compendium. KF5 also includes a new, compact version of the core Knopflerfish OSGi framework, occupying no more than 316K of disk-space. This compact version targets small embedded devices, typically in the m2m domain.

The new key features in Knopflerfish are:

• Knopflerfish OSGi framework and OSGi Compendium Services are all updated to OSGi R5
• A compact version of framework, occupying no more than 316K of disk-space
• KF5 fully uses the OSGi specified repository format. Former KF formats (OBR) have been deprecated. New Repository Manager bundle, new console commands for interacting with the repository manager, as well as new Repository Desktop manager.
• All Knopflerfish bundles, e.g. desktop, console commands etc have been update to use and reflect the new R5 APIs.
• Simplified process for building Knopflerfish with Java 7

The Release Notes includes the complete list of features and fixes.

The KF5 overview page presents an overview of OSGi R5 and what features are supported in Knopflerfish 5.

/Christer

Knopflerfish 5 beta-1 released, KF is getting ready for OSGi R5

We are happy to announce the release of Knopflerfish 5.0.0.beta-1. This is the first beta release of KF5, the next major release of Knopflerfish, designed to be compliant with the OSGi R5 specifications. The KF5 overview page presents an overview of OSGi R5 and the current status of KF5.

New features in OSGi R5 include the Resource API, OSGi namespace definition, repository service, resolver service and sub-systems to name a few. For KF users the most important changes in KF5 are:

• Knopflerfish OSGi framework updated to R5
• Repository services added. This is still work i progress
• Configuration Admin has a new concept of targeted PIDs as well as API changes. The KF OSGi CM bundle has been updated accordingly
• Other Knopflerfish bundles, e.g. desktop, console commands etc have been update to use and reflect the new R5 APIs.

The Release Notes includes the complete list of features and fixes.

Please report any errors / problems / missing bundles / incorrect documentation etc so we get it right for the official release of KF 5.0

Please also feel free to report how wonderful, fantastic, brilliant or magnificent you may find KF5

/Christer

Knopflerfish moves to new major version - Knopflerfish 4 is released

We are happy to announce the availability of Knopflerfish 4, the next major release of Knopflerfish. KF4 is designed to be compliant with the OSGi R4 v4.3 specifications.

The new KF4 release support all core features, as well as all the the OSGi Services relevant for the embedded and desktop markets. The KF4 overview page presents a detailed overview of KF4 and OSGi R4 v4.3. A short summary is presented below:

• Generics - core API now uses generics
• Capabilities - generic requirements and capabilities
• Bundle Wiring API - provide information how requirements and provided capabilities have been resolved by the framework. Replaces PackageAdmin
• Adapt pattern - new adapt method on the Bundle class
• Framework hooks - mechanism to plug into the framework for close interaction, Resolver Hooks, Bundle Hooks, Service Hooks, Weaving Hooks.
• Declarative Services updates.
• Knopflerfish bundles, e.g. desktop, console commands etc, are all update to use and reflect the new 4.3 APIs.

In addition to the upgrade to OSGi R4 v4.3 KF4 includes several new Knopflerfish features and fixes:

• The class weaving using ASM has been been moved into a separate classpatcher bundle that implements a Weaving Hook.
• General change to to all timer / timer functions to System.nanoTime() instead of System.currentTimeMillis() to avoid timer problems when correcting system clock.
• The Android support has been extended with functions for building an Android .apk containing Knopflerfish.
• The KF Directory Deployer bundle has been given an overhaul and a new feature for deployment of XML-files with OSGi CM configurations has been added.
• Several new features in the CM-Desktop plug-in, in particular functions for handling the CM Meta data XML document used by the Directory Deployer.
• The Desktop bundle fully support the new Wiring-API as well as several minor usability improvement.
• The frameworkcommands bundle has been extended to support the new Wiring API and has several new commands, e.g. "wiring" and "capability".
• Maven source and javadoc attachments for all Knopflerfish bundle artifacts are now generated.

The Knopflerfish 4.0 Release Notes includes the complete list of features and fixes.
 

Knopflerfish 3.6 released, KF3 moves to maintenance branch. Knopflerfish 4.0 release is imminent

Knopflerfish 3.6 is the next minor KF3 release and includes several fixes and improvement in the core OSGi framework, the OSGi compendium services, and the Knopflerfish services.

The 3.6 release also marks the end of KF3 as the main development version in the KF trunk. With the 3.6 release the Knopflerfish SVN trunk is switched to KF4 / OSGi R4 v4.3, preparing for the imminent release of Knopflerfish 4.0.

The new KF3 maintenance branch is available in SVN at:
https://www.knopflerfish.org/svn/knopflerfish.org/branches/kf_3_support/

The most important changes are:

• Stability issues corrected in the Knopflerfish OSGi framework
• Several stability issues corrected in Declarative Services (SCR), e.g. bind/unbind issues, filter properties
• Switched to use System.nanoTime() in the framework and all bundles to avoid timer problems when correcting system clocks.
• Corrected resource leaks in HTTP server and corrected Data header formats
• Corrected issue in Preference service when running with security

The Release Notes includes the complete list of features and fixes:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/releases/3.6.0/release_notes.html

/Christer

KF moves to OSGi R4 v4.3 First beta version of KF 4 is released

We are happy to announce the first beta release of Knopflerfish 4, the next major release of Knopflerfish.

With the KF4 release Knopflerfish moves to OSGi R4 v4.3 for both Core and Compendium.

KF4 is available for download at:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/download.html

The new KF4 release includes all the new features in R4 v4.3, e.g.

• Generics - core API now uses generics
• Capabilities - generic requirements and capabilities
• Bundle Wiring API - provide information how requirements and provided capabilities have been resolved by the framework. Replaces PackageAdmin
• Adapt pattern - new adapt method on the Bundle class
• Framework hooks - mechanism to plug into the framework for close interaction, Resolver Hooks, Bundle Hooks, Service Hooks, Weaving Hooks.
• Knopflerfish bundles, e.g. desktop, console commands etc, are all update to use and reflect the new 4.3 APIs.

For a complete description of the new release please refer to the release notes:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/releases/4.0.0.beta-1/docs/release_notes.html

Regards,
Christer

Knopflerfish 3.5 released

We are happy to announce the release of Knopflerfish 3.5, the fifth minor release of Knopflerfish 3. The new release is available for download at:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/download.html

Knopflerfish 3.5 includes several fixes and improvement in the core
OSGi framework, the OSGi compendium services and the Knopflerfish
services.

The most important changes are:

• Stability issues corrected in the Knopflerfish OSGi framework
• Several stability issues corrected in Declarative Services (SCR), e.g. potential race conditions, re-bind and re-registration issues.
• Corrected resource / memory leak in User Admin
• Framework commands supports printing thread stack traces and filter which threads to show.
• SCR commands now support showing "satisfied" or "unsatisfied" applications.
• Corrected issued preventing Eclipse Gemini Blueprint from running correctly on Knopflerfish

The Release Notes includes the complete list of features and fixes.

/Christer

Knopflerfish 3.3 released

We are happy to announce that Knopflerfish 3.3, the third minor KF3 release, is now available for download at: http://www.knopflerfish.org/download.html

KF 3.3 includes several fixes and improvement in the framework, the compendium services and the Knopflerfish services, resulting in a faster and more robust Knopflerfish OSGi. The most important changes are:

• Corrected framework stability issues, e.g. detecting and abort recursive service factory calls, issue with deadlock in service listeners
• SCR (component) now supports the Felix SCR API. This is used by the new SCR Commands bundle, see below
• scrcommands - new console command group bundle for controlling and inspecting service components
• Corrected stability issues in SCR, Event Admin, CM and HTTP
• Enhanced support for Android, including support for Android 4 and handling the crippled java security classes in Dalvik
• Improved bundle sort order in desktop
• HTTP PUT and DELETE supported by HttpClientConnector

The Release Notes have the complete listing of changes:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/releases/3.3.0/release_notes.html

/Christer

Knopflerfish 3.2 released

Knopflerfish 3.2.0 has been released and is available for download at:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/download.html

Knopflerfish 3.2 is the second minor KF3 release and includes several improvement in the framework, the compendium services and the Knopflerfish services, resulting in a faster and more robust platform.

The most important new feature and fixes are:
- Refactored fragment handling and full support for dynamic fragments
- Improved handling of hanging bundle threads in start and stop methods,
- Bugfixes in Conditional Permission Admin
- Improved HTTP server, better handling persistent connections as well as handling DoS attacks
- Fixed stability issues in Component (SCR)
- Improved Android / Dalvik support
- New tutorials for Security and Android

The release notes includes a complete description of all fixes in 3.2
http://www.knopflerfish.org/releases/3.2.0/release_notes.html

Regards,
Christer

Running Knopflerfish with Security turned on

For most users, the most common way of running Knopflerfish, or any OSGi container for that matter, is probably to run with security turned off. But in some contexts you need to turn security on. To overcome the set up hassle most users encounter the first time they get exposed to the ConditionalPermissionAdmin service in OSGi, and security in general in Java, we have created a hands on guide and tutorial on how to run Knopflerfish with Security turned On.

The small tutorial also includes some example bundles, including full sources. The examples are checked in to the KF SVN:
https://www.knopflerfish.org/svn/knopflerfish.org/trunk/osgi/bundles_examples/cpa/

/Christer

Knopflerfish is now on Twitter

Knopflerfish is now on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/knopflerfish

Be sure to follow us for Knopflerfish Updates Great and Small.

Knopflerfish 3.1 released

Knopflerfish 3.1 has been released and is available for download at:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/download.html

Knopflerfish 3.1 is the first minor KF3 release. KF3.1 includes several improvement in the framework, the compendium services and the Knopflerfish services, resulting in a faster and more robust platform.

The most important new feature and fixes are:

• Updated framework with improved thread handling& asyncronous listeners.
• Reduced bundle start-up time
• Improved and faster log bundle
• Several fixes and minor improvements in the desktop bundle

The release notes includes a complete description of all fixes in 3.1

Regards,
Christer

Knopflerfish Pro 3 first OSGi framework to become 4.2 certified

Today we received a note at Makewave from the OSGi Alliance stating Knopflerfish Pro 3 is certified for compliance against the OSGi Release 4, Version 4.2 specifications. In fact Knopflerfish Pro 3 is the first OSGi framework to be officially certified!

I want to use this opportunity to also thank all the Knopflerfish developers and users out there for all their hard work and enthusiasm in finalizing KF3 and getting us certified.

/Christer

Knopflerfish 3 beta-5 released, fully implementing OSGi R4 v4.2

Today we released beta-5 of the upcoming KF3 release. With this beta-5 release KF3 now fully implements the core and service compendium functions according to OSGi R4 v4.2

Besides completing the 4.2 implementation Beta-5 includes several minor improvements. E.g. improved Event Admin, Desktop and Framework Commands bundles. The release notes has the full story.

One clearly visible change is of course the change to the Tango Icon set in the desktop and other bundles:

A final KF3 release is scheduled in a few weeks from now.

/Christer

KF3 / OSGi R4v4.2 well under way, beta-4 released, nighly builds available

The development with KF3 is well under way and last week we released the fourth beta release of KF3.0. From an OSGi R4v4.2 point of view all main features are in place. The framework implements all 4.2 features as well as the fundamental Compendium Services. The main remaining work is to update Declarative Services / SCR to 4.2.

Since some time nightly builds are running for KF3. The results were unintentionally well hidden on the KF web site. This is now corrected and there is a link from the KF downloads section.

The direct link to KF3 nightly builds is:
http://www.knopflerfish.org/snapshots_branches_kf3/

/Christer

Knopflerfish tooltip - Using the desktop bundle to generate events

A handy feature in the KF desktop is the ability to generate events "by hand".

In the desktop there is an "Events" tab that displays all the events received. There is a filter function to select a subset of events.

In this view you can also generate and send new events.



Clicking on "Send" will bring up the following dialog in which you can specify the event topic as well as any number of event properties.

In the example above pressing Send will send out an event using the EventAdmin service with the topic foo and the event property "bar" with the value 10.

This can be a very useful and handy function when testing or debugging an OSGi bundle that uses the EventAdmin service.

/Christer

Knopflerfish 3 beta-3 released - KF 3.0 gets closer!

Today Jan built and released the beta-3 version of KF3. Extension bundles are now fully implemented in the framework which means the KF beta-3 framework now fully implements OSGi R4 V4.2. Of the OSGi compendium, declarative services (SCR) only remains to be updated to V4.2. We plan to have SCR completed in a very near future, i.e. week(s) from now. KF3 is getting closer!

/Christer

The OSGi framework beauty contest in Ludwigsburg

Yesterday I attended the OSGi Users Group Germany meeting in Ludwigsburg. One of the sessions was an OSGi framework beauty contest between Knopflerfish (me), Felix (Karl Pauls + Felix Meschberger), Equinox (Jeff McAffer) and mBedded Server (Roman Roelofsen). I think it was a pretty good session, but difficult to judge from where I was sitting. Nor can I say there was a clear winner, except maybe for the OSGi technology itself which we all praised. I also got several comments afterwards that we all seemed so friendly to each other where they had expected us to be more aggressive. Well, if you put a Swiss, a Canadian and a Swede on stage you will not get a dog fight, you will get peace, love and understanding, unless it is ice-hockey.

I was impressed by the event itself, +50 people and generally a good quality of the sessions from what I could judge. That said from my somewhat limited understanding based on 6 years of German at school. But there is clearly a strong momentum around OSGi in Germany at the moment. No doubt about that. There were quite a bit of discussions on the tooling for OSGi, which I will get back to in another blog entry later.

In the evening I had a very nice Schwäbisches dinner together with 2 gentlemen from Deutsche Telekom, discussing, among many things, OSGi in the residential home gateway. Very interesting discussions which gave me some new ideas for the panel session I'm doing next week: Evolution of the "Digital Furnace": Residential Gateways and Set-top Boxes, at the Connections Summit 2010 on Nov 4th in Amsterdam. I hope to see you there!

/Christer